The Omen (1976)

Directed by Richard Donner
Written by David Seltzer
Starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner and Billie Whitelaw

Upon the death of his newborn son, an American Ambassador is persuaded into witching out his child for that of a mother whom died in birth. When the child grows up, the Ambassador begins to notice strange happenings surrounding his child. He soon finds that the child he has been raising may be the son of the devil himself.

Back in 2006, I saw the remake of this classic horror movie. Upon seeing the original, I realized that the  filmmakers took no liberties with the remake. It is more less a shot-for-shot duplicate. Everything from the infamous "It's all for you!" line to the scene in the graveyard in Italy, there are little to no differences.

There is something about the 39 year-old original that has a much creepier. It is a phenomenon that is hard to explain. Perhaps it is the technology or lack there of. Or maybe it's just the performances. The lack of my familiarity with the actors could have made it easier to suspend disbelief unlike witnessing Live Schreiber and Julia Stiles go through the same situations. I honestly cannot pinpoint it.

One thing that I do know is that Gregory Peck was not at the top of his game. Some scenes were good, but others were corny and overacted. He didn't absorb himself in the role like he did in "To Kill a Mockingbird".

I can't remember how many times I've said I'm not a horror movie fan. I don't dislike them. I just don't have a blind loyalty to them like so many people do. It takes a lot for me to like a horror. It takes even more for me to love one.

This did not impress me. But it did entertain me. I kind of felt like I was cheating a bit though. Because the remake is so similar to this one, I feel as though I had already seen it. I'm curious to know how I would have felt if I had only seen this one. I wonder if I would have had a better appreciation for it.

My Rating: 6/10

Grizzly (1976)

Directed by William Girdler
Written by Harvey Flaxman, David Sheldon and Andrew Prine
Starring Christopher George, Andrew Prine, Richard Jaeckel and Joan McCall

When a eighteen-foot tall grizzly bear terrorizes a popular National Park during peak camping season, the head Park Ranger must protect the visitors from its wrath.

In an attempt to become the "Jaws" for the woods, this movie takes damn near every single plot point and filming style from Spielberg's classic thriller. Everything from the shooting style (having angles from the perspective of the creature), to having a Park Manager (the Mayor in "Jaws") who refuses to close the mountain risking the lives of their visitors for the sake of money.

It even has a war veteran who has stories that give him extra inspiration to seek revenge on the killer animal. And he makes huge speech about a tragic even caused by the bear much like Quint does in the 1975 film (Spoiler: Even the endings are the same).

Yeah… This happens.

The only thing they didn't rip-off, excluding the antagonist and location of course, was the soundtrack. The soundtrack to this movie switches between sounding like it's from an old western film to that of a romantic film from the 50s. It is so unfitting that it's laughable. And that's not the only thing funny about this.

The scenes in which the bear kills someone are pretty hilarious. I don't know if it would have been scary back in the 70s, but today it'll just make you laugh. The acting is terrible. 90% of the scenes throughout the entire movie are ADR'd (Automated Dialogue Replacement). And the way the killing scenes are shot have been parodied by too many modern comedies to not produce a chuckle.

This movie isn't bad enough to be good like "Troll 2" and other great-terrible movies. And it's certainly not good enough to be good. It's just bad. The blatantly stolen plot points from "Jaws" don't help it's case either. It does have an awesome poster, though.

My Rating: 2/10